A/N: (Note/Disclaimer) All recognizable characters belong to their respective owners. Such as Neopeople for Dungeon Fighter Online(Also known as Dungeon & Fighter) and Aneko Yusga for The Rising Of The Shield Hero
Note 2:
("Human/Speech")
("Thoughts")
(Attacks/Weapon names)
(Other/Foreign/ Speech & Text/Book/Scroll)
(Actions/POV)
(Titles/Flashback/Time/Dates/Place)
(Narration & Everything else)
('Demonic Speech')
("Demonic Thoughts")
Hero And Fighter Chapter 19
Lute Village
6/5/0000: 1500
Third Person: Omni
"You did well Filo." Naofumi dismounted and nodded at the young spear user. While the obstacles were there, he knew that the other hero was no cheater. When it gets revealed later, he would definitely be outraged.
"I won." That was all Naofumi had to say as the crowd cheered.
"We can rest easy and focus on rebuilding the village!" The noble said with a grin before something strange happened. A flash of green light happened besides Naofumi.
"If you have anyone to thank, it should be Filo…" Naofumi went to pat the bird on the body but just felt a large number of feathers. He had his eyes closed while doing so, missing the flash of light. When the new feeling registered, he looked up at the filorial… in the place of the Chocobo-esqe monster was a massive bird that looked more like a chicken.
"Eh!" Naofumi made a noise as she turned to look at him, a happy expression appearing on her face. Malty immediately went for the opportunity.
"Cheater, you did not tell us that your filorial was actually this tub of lard!" She had her hands on her hips as she accused the winner of the race.
"Do I need to keep listing things in a logical manner for you? First up, she evolved after the race due to getting exp from winning the race." Naofumi sighed while leaning back into the bird… finding it was actually more feathery than fat.
"And second, are you sure that you are not the cheater yourself? There are holes in the course, two slowing spells on me, and a hastening spell on Motoyasu." Naofumi said while using only two fingers to make points.
"Do you have any proof?" She asked while putting a hand to her face, Naofumi almost laughed at the redirection attempt. Naofumi just snapped his fingers and the knights that were on the course were unceremoniously dropped in between them.
"Thank you Senka, I believe these soldiers were supposed to be inside the town… but they were right next to the course out of sight from the town gates," Naofumi stated as Senka went to his side once more.
"And I believe the queen's agents can be the impartial party here and confirm that there was magic used on the course," Naofumi said as the group of women appeared once more, once again in the kneeling position they first used.
"The Shield Hero is correct. We have found earth magic used directly on the course. As magic has faded from the heroes, we can not confirm the use of magic on them." The head shadow said.
"I-it was that criminal obviously." Naofumi wanted to point out several things with that statement of course but the Shadow beat him to it.
"No. The Shield Hero has healing and support magic. His raccoon party member is light and dark. The young woman has dark and wind affinity. And the final party member was with us the entire time, unable to interfere." They really are the information agents.
"All of their affinities are completely different magic than what we found. It is clear that the Spear hero's party was cheating." She stated in a matter of fact tone, and the girl that Naofumi spoke to was immediately going over to Motoyasu to speak with him.
"Fine, we will leave for today." Myne quickly motioned for the knights to grab their unconscious comrades before walking away from the village. When Motoyasu and the girl walked beside him they decided to speak.
"I am sorry for all that Naofumi…" The guy was at least able to at least speak of his mistakes.
"I still do not know why you go with her schemes…" Naofumi said with a sigh as he stood right beside him.
"She is the only one who makes plans…" Motoyasu just shrugged, if any of them talked, he would have gone with their words. But for some reason, they just did not talk.
"Well, hopefully, this girl will talk more. I have spoken some sense into you, right? It does not matter what position she is in. As long as you are careful and restrain them, you will be a good woman." Naofumi said with a smile over to the woman. She just nods in response to his words.
"Oh yeah, before I forget. Here." Naofumi passed them both phones from the duffle bag.
"Call me if you need anything. They charge on solar if you have questions about how, ask Motoyasu, he should know." Naofumi walked over to his group who were speaking with the villagers. Not even giving them a chance to say thank you.
"Sir Hero, again, thank you very much. We don't know how to express our gratitude for everything you have done." The girls all smile at this.
"Just give us the reward for the race and we are even," Naofumi said with a patient smile.
"We are going around collecting the money now. Please give us a day or two to…" Naofumi already decided to interrupt them.
"Not money. Your efforts of rebuilding take far more precedent than any reward that should be given." Naofumi stated with a tired grin. Their expressions lightened at those words.
"Sir Hero!" The noble in charge of the village said in surprise.
"But then what can we give you in return?" Naofumi was glad that they were the honest village folk. Naofumi closed his eyes in thought before Filo tapped his head a few times causing Naorumi to look up at her. She pointed to a fairly intact carriage.
"If you feel like you are short changing us on the carriage, you can also give us some light metal ore to fill in for the rest," Naofumi said with a smile, now he didn't have to worry as much about carrying some more stuff. Though maybe one day he would have to get another carriage or cart if they got more people.
"Yes, sir hero." The noble then started to have some villagers repair the carriage and start going into the village supply of light metal ore.
"Are you interested in becoming a traveling trader?" After all the villagers left to do stuff, the noble quickly went to the now along Naofumi to talk about something.
"Traveling trader?" Naofumi asked, it was a term that he heard in some light novels, but it might mean an entirely different set of things in this world.
"If so, this pass will come in handy. It exempts you from the tolls across the country, allowing you to traverse the roads freely." The man offered the long pass to the heroes. Naofumi looked at it inside of his hands before nodding at the noble.
_(DUNGEON FIGHTER ONLINE)_
Road To Castle Town
The group of 5 sat in the carriage as Filo happily pulled it, making sounds of contentment as she stepped on the dirt road. Naofumi was completely fine in the coach seat, though much of it was Filo doing her own thing as he gave directions. The passengers on the other hand…
"S-S-Sorry Naofumi-sama, can we please stop for a bit?" Raphtalia asked from right behind him. Naofumi looked back into the cart, Eclair and Melina were perfectly fine. Senka was a bit motion sick, but would probably recover soon… Raphtalia on the other hand was all green.
"Sure. I forget how motion sick others can get…" Naofumi said with a sigh. He pulled on the reins for Filo to stop. They quickly go off to the side of the road by a tree, making sure that there were no potholes to fall into accidentally.
Raphtalia and Senka immediately went out of the back of the carriage, though Raphtalia went to puke somewhere, Senka just stood on the ground to get her bearings. Naofumi noted that the sun was still high, and if the distance they covered before he had to stop due to Raphtalia's motion sickness, by the time the sun went down, they would reach the forest near Castle Town.
"Haven't ridden in a carriage for a while now. I usually just fly on my spear like the rest of the mages." Melina said with a grin as she stretched on the ground. Eclair also got off the carriage and went over to the front of it.
"Sorry I wasn't of use during the race." She said with a bow. Naofumi just waved her off.
"It takes a while to recover from being in a dungeon, I am surprised how fast you did so," Naofumi said with a smile. She was constantly shifting around, almost as if she is missing something, and that was true, she did not have a sword at the moment.
"I am sorry for-"
"Don't apologize any more... just work harder to make up for mistakes. If we are too caught up saying sorry, then we miss out on the chance to make things better, which is now." Naofumi said with a smile as he looked over to her. She just blushed in response.
"Raphtalia, you ready to go?" Naofumi switches his position to look over at the recovered Raphtalia. She nodded before returning to the carriage. She was up in front to learn how to lead Filo, she would switch off and have Eclair learn after.
_(THE RISING OF THE SHIELD HERO)_
Forest Near Castle Town
6/5/0000: 1700
"Sorry for making you do this after you let me rest on the way." Naofumi set the girl down on a sleeping bag from the duffle bag. The other girls did various tasks around the campsite. Now that they had a carriage, it would be a situation they will be in often.
"Don't worry bout it, just get used to it." Naofumi smiled at the girl as the other two from the original party started to set up the utensils for cooking. He already knew that they were quite hungry, and a good meal will do them all some good.
"What do we have tonight," Naofumi said while looking through the various plants they had on hand. The more perishable stuff would be used first of course. Senka quickly brought over some rabbit monsters that she hunted. Eclair just looked at everyone.
While Naofumi was busying himself with cooking, the girls were doing various stuff around camp. Senka was playing with her knives, practicing various movements.
"You know, he is far better than just after the trial," Melina said to Raphtalia as she started doing maintenance on her spear and glass pole. Raphitalia looked over to the girl. While never really talked about, Melina knew what Naofumi was like before everything.
"What do you mean?" She asked, wanting to know just how different he was fueling it.
"Despite how he knew it was happening, he was far colder to the world. Right now he is quite happy, though it is nothing compared to his original cheerful self." Melina said while checking her spear one final time before letting it float beside her.
"I think all of us did good in his mental health." She said with a smile as she observed Eclair and Filo watching him cook. Filo had stars in her eyes while Eclair looked a bit out of place.
"No one can handle being alone for extended periods of time… no mind is able to do so." She said while leaning back into the tree while watching the interactions with a smile as Senka decided to walk back into the group now that the food was almost ready to be dished out.
"I'll be on watch tonight," Naofumi said while giving a bowl of the food to each of the girls, sitting down to help Raphtalia to eat. The other girls look on with strange eyes.
_(RISING OF THE SHIELD HERO)_
6/6/0000: 0700
"Sir Hero…"
"Naofumi-Sama!"
"Milord…"
Naofumi opens up his eyes at the commotion from his companions, three people that talked and one that was just laughing at something.
"Guess I fell asleep…" He tried to move his hands in order to go and get up from the stump that he was sitting up against… only to feel a soft sensation and a sound that came from where he put his hands. He slowly looks down…
"Ehhhhh!" Naofumi quickly got up and moved away from the girl that was by his side, she was sleeping. Though that wasn't for long as she slowly got up, rubbing one of her eyes, everyone in the viewing radius would say that it was an incredibly cute action… especially Melina.
"Good Morning, Master." The young girl said as she slowly turned to him, a smile on her face. Now, Naofumi was able to see what she really looks like. Blond hair and blue eyes along with a pair of white feathered wings.
"Ma-!?" Naofumi was taken aback at the title that has been added by the girl.
"Who is she!?" Raphtalia yelled out while Melina was slowly dropping to the ground in laughter. Senka was holding her chin while thinking of something. Eclair… well she was knocked out due to the cuteness of the girl.
"How should I know!" Naofumi was also panicking… but not as much as when he first discovered the girl. Now that he was thinking a little more clearly, he started to remember the Light Novels that he read before… mainly about harem protags and dragons…
"Filo…?" Senka asked while walking toward the girl. The blond looked at the cloaked brunette and smiled at her… though not to the intensity that she smiled at Naofumi.
"Senka, Good Morning!" She said with a grin on her face, full of cheer this morning.
"Filo!?" The other two yelled out as Melina rolled on the ground in laughter… though it wasn't to the point where she was losing too much breath. The bird turned girl in question just waved over at the two who yelled out her name.
"Master, I am hungry." She said while looking at Naofumi, a specially timed gumble of her stomach punctuated her statement quite well.
"Filoirial Queens are able to shapeshift… to become a human might seem farther than changing into a regular Filorial… but I guess it is far more powerful than what researchers have speculated," Senka said with a pondering expression as she studied the young girl all over, looking with a fair amount of interest.
"What happened…?" Eclair said as she slowly woke up from her sudden bout of moe induced sleep. She slowly got up from her position when she looked over at the young girl… and the voice in her head started cooing at the cute sight.
"Fine… I will go make some food… we need to go to the slave trader's today to verify and get you something…" Naofumi said with a sigh after taking a few seconds to think about the situation. He quickly walks over to the cart to grab a robe before throwing it onto the girl.
"Make sure you take that off before transforming back…" Naofumi said. If his experience in reading these situations are true… then even if he does warn her she would do it anyway… He needed to find some shapeshifting clothes.
Word Count: ~2600 Words
Date Completed: 12/27/2020
Note: Hope you all enjoyed it.
Review Corner:
FFN
Arraia: Perfect and update soon please
Magnificent
did the motoyasu dragon really become jealous of the phylum?
does this imply that a new member will be added to the naofumi group in the very near future?
Response: Yes, yes the dragon became jealous of Filo. As for her addition to the group… well not for a while at least.
AO3:
havefeith: Just a note, and feel free not to mention this in a note if you really want to, but you accidentally typed "sSenka" at one point. Easy to fix, that one is. Just type that into the find and replace field, and replace it with the actual name. No need to go searching for it that way.
Response: I usually leave it in order to be a reminder of my earlier writing and by extension, my mistakes.